Found a Buck knife stuck in a tree about 15 years ago. Obviously previous owner had been throwing it as the blade lock was broken. Sent it to Buck for repair as it was still in good condition. Fixed it for free, sharpened the blade and sent it back with a note that it was one of the older ones and worth about $100 and to this day is one of my favorties.
In a case somewhat similar to the above, a teacher, with whom I taught at Cody Middle School, was packing out of the upper South Fork south of Cody, Wyoming, when he found an 8x56 Swarovski porro binocular. It was pretty well dilapidated, not only, from being dropped on a well-used muddy horse trail, but also, from being thoroughly mauled and chewed by a grizzly. I talked him in to calling Swarovski to determine whether or not they could be sent in for repairs. It was possible, the binocular was shipped, and the folks at Swavarski were so impressed with their grizzly-chewed product, they wanted to keep it and sent my friend a brand new replacement binocular! A rather "high-end" find!
If I could only be so lucky,
M Bell
